Priscilla Sakezles

Biography

I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. I received my BA (1986) and MA (1989) in Philosophy from the University of South Florida, and my PhD in Philosophy from Florida State University (1993).

My dissertation was entitled ‘Aristotle and the Early Stoics on Freedom and Determinism in Human Action,’ and my primary research area continues to be Aristotle and the Stoics. I am particularly interested in a set of questions about human action theory: What is the relationship between our mind and body? How free or determined are our actions and character? What justifies holding people morally responsible for their actions?

I believe that Aristotle and the Stoics provide provocative contrasting answers to these perennial questions, answers which may well point us to the truth. One of the advantages of approaching such a philosophical problem from the perspective of the ancients is that they were not limited by the present cultural constraints of our 2500 year-old Judaeo-Christian heritage, so by looking through their eyes we can see things quite differently.